


Free

by Gingahninjah



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Canonical Character Death, Force Ghost Anakin, Friendship, Gen, How Do I Tag, I need a hug, Post-Canon, Post-Movie(s), Sad, ahsoka - Freeform, anakin - Freeform, post endor, well he's already dead so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 05:19:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10734924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gingahninjah/pseuds/Gingahninjah
Summary: Anakin makes a visit after the Battle of Endor.





	Free

Ahsoka saw the explosion. It was all over the Holonet when it happened. Instant celebration began. Word was the Emperor was on board. The empire had fallen. The rebels had won. This was fantastic news.

And yet Ahsoka wasn't sure how to feel.

The moment it blew, Ahsoka felt it. The last shred of her master in the universe was gone.

Its better this way. He's been dead a long time she tried to tell herself. But just because someone has changed, just because someone has hurt you doesn't mean you'll stop loving them. Once someone is important to you, they can never really stop.

In the years since her encounter with Vader, she'd tried to discover how that kind, selfless jedi who only wanted to help people could become that monster. She'd tried to rid herself of the guilt. Her being there couldn't have changed anything, could it?

It was dark side manipulation she desperately wanted to believe. He was forced, coerced into doing those terrible things and then he felt he couldn't go back. Anakin would never. But images of Anakin's darker moments flooded her mind. There were warning signs.

But were those things so wrong? Was he wrong in using extreme measures for a good cause? The Jedi would have her believe that but she'd never been so sure.

When she was younger, her "nonconformity" scared her. The Oder taught her that any small step straying from the code was a one way ticket to the dark side. That with such power came great capacity for corruption. That you were to give yourself fully, completely to the Force. You were not you. You were a vessel for the Force.

She was told you were either dark or light, there was no in between. But she'd always felt rather in between. Good. But not up to the Order's standards. Never quite "good" enough. Always too rash, too angry, too defiant. Always someone they had to keep an eye on. And Anakin was even worse.

Maybe he got tricked into making that choice between the light and dark within him. And he just chose wrong.

While the rest of the galaxy celebrated the death of a tyrant, Ahsoka wondered if somehow he was another victim. She hoped it was true.

"Ahsoka?"

She froze. She almost thought she'd heard-

"Ahsoka...please" she turned around, not believing it.

There he was. Anakin Skywalker. Exactly the way she remembered him. Young and fit, with way too much hair, in those dumb black robes he thought made him look cool.

"I...I'm sorry doesn't even begin to cut it."

Ahsoka stared, mouth open. All the words seemed to escape her. But one thought remained. Sith don't come back as Force Ghosts. Not like this at least.

"Ahsoka...I just..."

"You came back."

"Of course. I...I had to see you"

"No. I mean. You...you're here. You're still you."

Anakin laughed nervously. "I'm just as surprised as you. After everything I've done...I thought there was no forgiveness for me. But the universe made a choice and let me come back." He glanced at the ground and scratched the back of his head, like he always did when he was nervous. "I died tonight killing the emperor. He was going to kill Luke...That doesn't make up for all the lives of innocent people I've taken. But it was the best I could do. I just...I wanted you to know."

Tears welled up in Ahsoka's eyes. She thought about little slave boy Anakin on Tatooine, rescued only to be enter the glorified slavery that often was the Order. She thought about Palpatine claiming him as his pawn, his slave. And she thought about Vader choosing his son over his master, Anakin's first real act of open defiance. Anakin's first-and last choice that was 100% his own.

Tears rolling down her cheek now, she shot a sad grin at her old master. "I knew you were still in there."

**Author's Note:**

> Though it appears in this pic, Ahsoka is also already dead, this fanart by licitian gave me lots of feels and I wanted to share that with you.  
> https://licitian.tumblr.com/post/157087170639/and-if-you-ever-lose-your-way-let-me-be-the


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